Hello coffee-fam! ☕️☕️☕️

It's been a long time - too long - for a blog post follow-up. Offline shenanigans been keeping me busy these days. Also, trying to be more active in curating and engaging with other authors' posts. Well, both are not going as planned, but I'm still here.

For today's post, I'm doing a two-for-one. LOL. This means that what I planned to publish with two blog posts will be included in this one. I have a ton of content that's just gathering dust in my hard drive and the only way to keep up is to do it double-time. Here goes...

Starting the day right.

Everybody begins the day differently. Some would sit quietly in meditation or prayer before getting out of bed, while others prefer to head on to the bathroom immediately, take a cold shower, then eat a hearty breakfast. For me, preparing my morning fill gets me into the groove of things; it helps me get into the right mindset - a positive one. And, if I'm lucky, I get to eat a hearty breakfast along with my morning fill of the perfect brew. Now, this is not a rare occasion, but it is nonetheless special.

Today was one of those days (well, it happened yesterday but I was not able to publish anything because of the pump in Hive price, which got me all excited and I forgot all about my blog. 😁).

My Filipino Breakfast.

If you've been reading my blog, you would know that I ate a lot of instant noodles back in the day. Living at a boarding house in the university belt with a bunch of other students and yuppies makes it normal to eat instant, canned, and foods that are easy to prepare if we are not eating at our favorite carinderia. This is one of those habits that I have not gotten rid of.

Leftovers for Breakfast.

Another habit that I tend to do automatically is to look at the food keepers inside the refrigerator. Sometimes, I get lucky and find sweets and cakes brought home late at night while I am already sleeping. Today, I found turon (Banana Cue Wraps) which was the perfect companion to the savory instant noodles I cooked up.

We recently got an air fryer and I'm just starting to understand how to use it in cooking and in reheating food. So I was happy to prepare the turon using the air fryer. The result was great; it was as if I had just bought it from the store - and, even better because of the crispiness of the wrapper. The air fryer is growing on me and I'm starting to love it.

Last night's dinner was a welcome surprise.

So, my wife came back from the grocery store with something we have not tried before: Vegan Fishless Fingers from Quorn.

We already know about Quorn products because they are affiliated with Shakey's Pizza but we don't really buy the frozen products they sell at the groceries. Maybe because we are fans of the Veega #plant-based products, which are readily available in Puregold stores. That said, I love the packaging and how it looks. And although my first impression tells me that this would be delicious, I'm not setting the bar high for this one because it is a "fish" substitute and I've had quite a few versions similar to this product that was simply bad, to be frank about it.

Air Frying is now my thing.

Since the directions said it is best cooked/heated up for 15 minutes in an oven, I thought about using the air fryer. I've never used the air fryer on something like this before so this will be a good experience / experiment for me to do. 😉

It smelled really nice and delicious while cooking. The neighbors could have smelled good food coming out from our kitchen and it was perfectly golden brown in color; this is already a big win in my book because picky eaters, especially kids, will surely love the smell and appearance of this food.

The Verdict.

These Vegan Fishless Fingers were fantastic. The texture was great; it had a crunchy outer breading. The inside was moist and tasty. It was not soggy at all from the cooking. In a word, it was the best surprise I've had in a while. We only had one pack try out but I'm now certain that this won't be the last time we will be buying this vegan product.

Lastly, the air fryer was great. I am now a fan of this gadget. It cooked dinner to a golden brown perfection and heated leftover turon like it was fresh from the frying pan on the day that it was cooked. As a #foodie, I savor these moments; having hot, delicious food whenever and wherever I eat. Whether it is at a restaurant or at home, I appreciate good flavor and aroma from fresh food and great coffee to go along with our meals.

So, that's it for now. Thanks for dropping by and reading my write-up. Time flies quickly so the weekend will be here before the ink dries on this blog post. Wishing you all a good and productive week ahead.

Love and peace.

*i own all the photos in this post.